The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-07-02
Bill Nye's Fourth of July Grafton.

anu 1II Tue WelgnL from the nearL OppreSt,
All in His time God giveth His rest
ADAMS COUNTY, Pa. Ct.
Bill Nye's Fourth of July Grafton.
A Characteristic and Patriotic Address.
Felloz0- Citizens 1t has now been
one hundred and eleven years since the
most successful and most prosperous re-
public known thus far to history, sent
forth upon the sultry air its first feeble
cry. One hundred and elven years ago
tthpISSwI this as ia}Gqurrfeean -rrperty jafnmed
her purple fists into her watery eyes and
made few desultory remarks which
were heard in the uttermost parts of the
earth.
To-day she is a full grown person
with dignifed mien, and has had a
statue of herself taken, which stands in
the harbor of New York and although
she lights up the country for miles
around, with her tall torch, there is no
one who has ever been able to hold
candle to her in the Liberty business.
Those who are to-day within the
sound of my voice, and who are over
one hundred and eleven years of age,
will perhaps recall to their minds the
deplorable condition of things here in
our young and struggling country at
that time.
If we moved out West in order to
secure more freedom, the venturesome
savage filled us full of arrows till we
looked like toothpick-holders, and
when we came back for protection, the
naughty Briton assessed US and crushed
us beneath the iron heel of the despot.
Now, whenever the starry banner
hangs out to greet the gentle breeze,
all, all are free. Little GO we know to-
day, here in America, what it is to suf-
fer for freedom. Liberty does good
business here in the United States now,
and the man who runs out of freedom
shows that he is shiflless man and
poor provider
Only little over a century ago we
dared not 60 out after dark without a
chilled steel corset, for fear that the
maroon-colored children of the forest
might let the pale, shimmering moon
light in among our vital organs by
means of their crude tomahawks. Then
life was indeed uncertain and disagree
able. People remained at home rather
than return to their houses with holes
in themselves and wildly disheveled
brains.
Now man can start out and go any
where if he will pay his fare.
And so we are marching on. What
a grand stride it is from the deSpotism.
of century ago, to the long and short
haul of oday2 What mighty leap
from the barbarism of hundread years
ago, to the glorious sunlight of freedom
which we enjoy now?
Where once the slow-going OK team
and Belcher box wagon crept through
the wilderness, liable to be scattered
over the greensward at any moment by
the yelling Injun, now the patient news
paper man, the member OF Congress
and the Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court, with their coats over their arms,
toll along the level sweep of railroad
which they assisted to build by means
of their land grants and moral encour-
agement, looking ever and anon over
their shoulders for the approach of the
yelling modern Injun.
Times have indeed changed in the
past century. A hundred years ago
whiskey was sold at forty cents per gal
lon, and every other man you met was
a statesman. Now you have to pay
fifteen cents for enough whisky to wet
the bottom of small tumbler and there
hasn't been speech made in the House
of Representatives for three years that
was listened to by any body but the
stenographer.
So Liberty, while enlarging her field,
has not always ameliorated the condi-
ton of mankind. We are prone to
boast over the enormous mass of free
dom which we have accumulated here
in America, and yet the freedom Of the
press has been greatly impaired, if l
may be allowed that expression.
Too much caste has been the result
of recent laws. A year ago l held up
my head and mingled with a class of
men who to-day refuse to recognize me.
They were then, and are now, of course,
men of wealth and social position but
so am |.
allude to the railway conductors of
the United States.
A wear ago | knew them from New
York to San Francisco, and associated
with them frequently, allowing myself
to be drawn forward into the smoking
car to mingle with them and visit pro
and con.
But what do l find to-day2 l find
the same men running on the same
trains, but they are arrogant, naughty
and reserved. One OF them placed me
on side-track last spring in the night,
in the midst of pitiless storm, because
tried to renew former acquaintance
with him, and ride into Chicago.
He said that l could not ride on my
acquaintance with him by no means,
but that l would soon be riding on the
small of my back if did not pay my
fare to the city.
And so l remained that night in the
midst of some ancient ruins called Mon
mouth, and / had no business there
Nobody ever had any business there
that ever heard of, and yet | remain
ed there through what was left of thai
terrible night.
| often think that our forefathers die
not suffer any more hardships than W.
do, and if had fitted myself for it
would Just as soon be forefather as Il
be the pampered child of wealth that
am to-day. BILL NYE.
B@-If you want knowledge, you mus
toll for it; if food, you must toll for it
and if pleasure, you must toll for il
Toll is the law. Pleasure comes throug
toll, and not by self-indulgence an
incidence. When one gets to loN
work, his life is a happy one.-R4skia